MASQUERADE.

Hello dear reader - welcome to this week's Wednesday Weekly.

For almost 21 years my work has been about finding solutions for my clients.

Whether through workshops, or presentations, or as an advisor, ultimately people come to me with problems they need to resolve.

Rarely, however, do I create an external solution.

I realised perhaps 15 years ago that I had learned to do one or two things very well, and everything I need is in those couple of things. 

Some people want - I honestly don't believe they need - lots of systems, and processes, and 'things'. One of the things I do well is knowing which questions to ask that help uncover solutions within other people.

Much of my work is in the field of leadership, and as I've written about before in Wednesday Weekly, I encourage active reflection in leaders. Too often, as it is with all of us, leader or not, we can be good at making decisions and moving on. 

The decision itself masquerades as a resolution. 

When a married couple divorces, the divorce itself is the objective: the legal separation and termination of the formal coupling between them previously secured by marriage.

When a loved one dies, we focuses on the funeral: the burial itself is the resolution. 

Yet in those moments of uncomfortable change, and indeed discomfort and pain - like we must face in divorce, illness, death, punishment, guilt, embarrassment etc - while we wouldn't ever willingly seek to engage with them, we find ourselves learning more about ourselves than we would have done without the experience.

We learn strength. We learn to grow. We learn our mistakes, even if we don't have the strength to learn from them. We learn more about our boundaries, values, and what we are capable of. 

Indeed, we learn about trust: trusting ourselves, and others.

Through those moments when things don't go to plan, or when we must face life's challenges, we learn. That is the true resolution. And it is always positive.

Perhaps the greatest lesson we learn is that the answer is always within us. 

This is why reflection after behaviour is so important, at home, at work, and when thinking about ourselves, too.

We don't build the best version of ourselves - we discover it.

Happy Wednesday,

Jez

PS. I'm so grateful for the global community we are building with the Leadership Accelerator Masterclass - it is wonderful to see such development and reflection in how we can become more confident, responsible, competent leaders. Click here to try the Masterclass absolutely free for 14 days - to payment required.